THE 
GARDEN YARD 120 
few hundred barrels would supply all the demand 
twenty years ago, tens of thousands of barrels 
are now needed annually. Its use was at one 
time largely confined to the German in this 
country, but that is no longer true. So there 
is always a market for cabbage, and if you are 
willing to take the pains necessary to grow good 
cabbage, you will find it a paying crop. Cab- 
bage is also largely grown for stock-feeding, and 
all the animals, from the horses to the fowls, 
are glad to get it. 
There are, of course, the two sorts of crops 
now so usual in market-gardening, the early 
and the main season crops. The early crop is 
started under glass either in the hot-bed or 
forcing house, while the main season crop is 
sown in seed-beds or in the open. 
The best soil preparation begins the fall 
before, with deep plowing and from 10 to 20 
tons of manure to the acre. Then, if the land 
is at all acid or has not recently been limed, it 
is well to apply lime at the rate of 1000 pounds 
to theacre, and plow that in along with 50 pounds 
of nitrate of soda. This will supply the food 
for the cabbage, which is a gross feeder, and 
won’t thrive without plenty of food. Farmers 
who raise it in large quantities, give it three 
applications of nitrate of soda after it is quite 
